


Malignant

by syndomatic (orphan_account)



Category: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu | Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Genre: (for episode 28 i guess?), Attempted Murder, Dubious Consent, F/M, Spoilers, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 14:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3854722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/syndomatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Your mother should’ve tried to do more than just gouge out your eye,” Elfriede hissed, making to throttle him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Malignant

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask me for excuses because I have none.

“Your mother should’ve tried to do more than just gouge out your eye,” Elfriede hissed, making to throttle him, but her hands slipped at the last moment — she refused to believe that Reuenthal had seen it coming — and she was not fast enough to make up for the mistake. 

Elfriede’s hands missed, and settled on the space beside his shoulder blades instead. She applied pressure on the sheets right where she would’ve liked Reuenthal’s neck to be, vulnerable and dying as she squeezed the air out of it — but he just wouldn’t let her have that, would he? Her breath was ragged; Reuenthal looked as though he was gauging her, waiting for her to do something, perhaps finding amuse in all of it. Only in an afterthought did Elfriede think of averting her eyes, but she did not, in the end. Predictably, neither did he.

But then she realized belatedly that she must’ve stung him where it counted, because Reuenthal shoved her upwards and off him without warning, before shifting above her and slamming her back down by the shoulders, making his offense and intentions clear and certain.

The impact of her head against the mattress was sudden, harsher than she’d expected, and her eyes flickered, the yellow light over his shoulders swerving wildly as her mind reeled from the momentary daze. Her spiteful expression failed to change; the stillness of it was only betrayed by the startled, shamefully quickening pace of her heart as Reuenthal's face slowly came into her focus.

There was something she couldn’t recognize in the way he was looking down at her. It was neither cockiness nor spite, but Elfriede was in no hurry to pinpoint it exactly. She was certain that if she knew what it was, she would find the emotion just as repulsive and irredeemable as the rest of him — pathological and rooted, right down to the bone.

Disgust began to bubble up her throat at the thought of that. She’d failed the first time she tried to swallow it back down, so she didn’t, and let the acid settle in the hollow of her mouth, under her tongue, tracing wet lines where it burned. Elfriede held her breath then, and didn’t look away, because she already knew she couldn’t — because she knew that if she had, she wouldn’t be here at all. There was no more point in trying to retreat; she'd told herself as much when she left.

Her eyes narrowed and teeth grit, Elfriede pushed herself forward then, leaning against her elbows in an act of defiance — _I would have gladly finished the job for her_ , she readied to say — just in time for the space between them to narrow into a dangerous close. The sheets crinkled tightly in her palm, and her eyes screwed shut as she braced for contact — but she didn’t recoil, not even out of instinct. She knew she couldn’t do that, either. She couldn't see, but she felt the bedroom around her spin.

Warmth began to prickle under her skin. The baser feeling pushed past vehement repugnance and nausea so easily that it was almost overwhelming; it tied itself so tightly around her chest, circling her throat, until Elfriede doubted that she could feel anything else if she tried (which she did). She stiffened as his hands caught her wrists, and she gripped tightly onto the edge of her stoic veneer as he slid closer — but denying Reuenthal the satisfaction of a reaction failed to lessen the blow of the fact that she’d been affected by him at all.


End file.
